CNN Hints Climate Skeptics to Blame for Australia Wildfires
Brad Wilmouth
January. 2. 2020
Cross posted to the MRC's NewsBusters blog
On Thursday's New Day show, CNN correspondent Anna Coren highlighted accusations by climate alarmists that the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, is partly to blame for the intensity of the current wildfires because he has not done enough to support regulations to try to curb global warming, as if were possible for government action to do so.
At 6:45 a.m. Eastern, after Coren spent most of a two-minute report recalling the plight of Australian residents in New South Wales who are having trouble finding a safe place because of the large area effected by the fires, the CNN correspondent concluded the piece by uncritically repeating claims that the prime minister had helped cause the problem:
ANNA COREN: I should mention that the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, who has been heavily criticized for his lack of leadership, for his government's inaction on climate change. Well, he was berated and heckled today at a town that was devastated by those fires on New Year's Eve. Residents there telling him that he should be ashamed of himself, that he allowed them to burn. So he is definitely feeling the pressure. People really across Australia really feel Australia's government is not doing enough to help these people.
The report seemed to be hinting that environmental regulation supported by liberal activists might have prevented the wildfires as she recalled complaints that the government "is not doing enough to help," and at no point in the report did she suggest anything else that she might have been referring to that the government was failing to do on the issue of the wildfires.
Below is a complete transcript of the report from the Thursday, January 2, New Day on CNN:
ANNA COREN: It's been a hideous week here in New South Wales, and, as you say, Poppy, has been declared a state of emergency, and that is because we are expecting catastrophic conditions to return here on Saturday -- those soaring temperatures and ferocious winds which will just stir up those fires that are burning not only across New South Wales, but also Victoria up and down the East Coast. There are 100 fires burning here in New South Wales, 50 in Victoria. Those New Year's Eve fires where we saw those hideous pictures of the inferno, apocalyptic conditions. People lost their lives, and the fear is those conditions will return this weekend, so a mass exodus is currently under way.
It is summer here in Australia. People are here on the beach by the South Coast, and they have been over the past few weeks. Well, authorities are telling them they have to get out now to avoid any further loss of life. The problem is, fires are breaking out across the state, so it's very difficult for all of these people to get out are trapped .So where we are here and now are about three hours south of Sydney as a staging area if you like for much of that effort to get people out, but the warning has gone out.
I should mention that the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, who has been heavily criticized for his lack of leadership, for his government's inaction on climate change. Well, he was berated and heckled today at a town that was devastated by those fires on New Year's Eve. Residents there telling him that he should be ashamed of himself, that he allowed them to burn. So he is definitely feeling the pressure. People really across Australia really feel Australia's government is not doing enough to help these people.
Anna Coren